MANU TUILAGI returned to the England rugby side with a try of brute strength yesterday to help the team complete a total thrashing of Italy in their final match of the Six Nations campaign.

It illustrated both the depth of resources available to head coach Stuart Lancaster, but also the possibility of tough and problematic choices ahead as England prepare for the World Cup on home soil next year.

Nobody could deny that Tuilagi added force and fury to the side, and will be a player nobody else in the world wants to face.

Yet there was shock and surprise that the man he replaced was outside centre Luther Burrell, who has been outstanding throughout this Six Nations tournament.

Burrell was clearly underwhelmed as he trudged off, and thousands of England fans at the Stadio Olimpico shared the sentiment.

He didn’t deserve to be hauled off.

Afterwards, buoyed by the pleasure of a supremely rare victory by 40 points in an away fixture, Lancaster preferred to dwell on the vast progress his side have made in the past 12 months.

To have two young and ambitious players of brilliance vying for the same position is what international coaches dream of.

It is the stuff of champions.

“Manu made an impact on the game, didn’t he?” said Lancaster when asked about the withdrawal of Burrell.

“I thought he added value to the team.

Tuilagi looked fresh after coming off the bench [PA ]

“We hadn’t settled before the game in which position to bring him on as a replacement, and we decided on what we saw in the game.

“I won’t criticise Luther, but there were one or two times in finer detail when he didn’t nail things. I thought all the substitutes added to the side in the final minutes of the game, and the strength in depth we have now is a sign of the progress we are making.

“The last time we came to Rome we won only 18-11, and all the points were penalties. This time we scored seven tries – and created them all. They weren’t down to poor Italian tackling, but our good play.”

Lancaster’s pride was obvious, and you could hardly blame him.

The fact that it came with a ruthless decision involved will only add to his satisfaction.

The transformation of the side has thrilled England fans, and the Sweet Chariot anthem was heard loud and often yesterday afternoon in the warm spring sunshine.

Victories as powerful as this should be cherished.

England reached half-time 24-6 ahead as they scored three tries in the opening period.

This was despite some ragged play, when the players looked as if they were trying too hard to create openings in a game where the idea was to score masses of points.

In one passage of play the ball was turned over five times in quick succession; England through over-exuberance and Italy through incompetence.

After an exchange of penalties between ?y-halves Luciano Orquera and Owen Farrell, the first try for Mike Brown came thanks to a break through the Italian line by the increasingly impressive Burrell.

Robshaw bagged England's final try [GETTY]

Farrell scored the second under the posts after a spell of relentless pressure from England’s forwards, and was reward for declining the opportunity of a penalty kick at goal.

Just before the break Brown ran through with thrilling purpose following what looked suspiciously like a forward pass from Farrell to grab a third try.

Farrell was immaculate with his conversions.

Victory was now assured and the question was how many more points England could score, and whether it would add a little pressure on Ireland in their later kick-off against France.

That required a winning margin of 50-plus points and for a brief moment after tries from Jack Nowell and Mako Vunipola before the hour mark.

Tuilagi then emerged as a super-sub and revealed exactly why he remains central to the future plans of England with a thrilling cameo performance.

He shrugged off a hapless pack of Italian tacklers to barrel over the line in the 68th minute for a try that will have been watched with envy and concern in both rugby hemispheres.

At that stage, with Farrell converting all his kicks, England were 45-6 ahead, and within sight of that 50-point margin.

Eagerness was their undoing.

One pass too many in a move in their own half allowed Italian winger Leonardo Sarto to intercept and sprint home for an easy try.

The final try came in the 81st minute from Chris Robshaw, and how fitting it was for the inspirational captain to provide the last flourish to a highly encouraging Six Nations campaign for England.

He was exhausted, but unbowed.

Like the rest, he then had a few hours to wait and see whether the team ended top or second of the table.